


Till next time (when we meet again)

by buttercupkisses



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Bisexual Veronica Lodge, College, F/F, Lesbian Betty Cooper, Past Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Past Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Post-High School, University, as slowburn as a oneshot can be, beronica endgame - Freeform, betty is head over heels for veronica
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 08:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30103002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttercupkisses/pseuds/buttercupkisses
Summary: “Veronica, good to see you.” Betty mentally slapped herself at the use of wording.On the other end of the line, Veronica let out a small laugh. It seemed she hadn’t been holding a grudge against her for all these years after all.“Well, Betty I wouldn’t say this is seeing you.” Veronica teased, “But if I were to offer a meet up I hope you wouldn’t turn down my offer.”Or, One day Veronica calls Betty out of the blue and asks to meet up.Basically what I wished went down between 5x03 and 5x04 with Betty and Veronica.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Veronica Lodge
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Till next time (when we meet again)

**Author's Note:**

> Before we start!!: in this fic, Betty and Jughead never had sex in 5x03. It'll make sense why when you read it :)

_Okay, she could do this._

Betty studied herself in the bathroom mirror once more, running her fingers through her wavy hair that once used to be fixed in a high ponytail but now flowed down her back in loose ringlets. She looked different from her high school days but at the same time, she had barely changed. Her blue eyes were as piercing as ever, forever analysing everything around her and of course, her snappy comebacks had become a whole lot stronger.

The sound of the door opening behind her made her spin around in her agitated state and she spotted a middle-aged woman walking in and she gave her a warm smile which Betty returned before heading into one of the cubicles.

She turned her attention back to the fast-approaching event and the person who could quite possibly be standing right outside the door that the woman had just walked through. When Betty had arrived at the café five minutes early, in true Copper fashion, she had practically sprinted to the toilets when she noticed Veronica hadn’t arrived yet. Knowing Veronica she would arrive fashionably late a true Lodge as some would say.

For some reason the build-up to their meeting had her feeling jittery and the butterflies in her stomach wouldn’t stop fluttering around causing her to be on edge the whole morning.

It was just Veronica for fuck's sake! Who once upon a time was her best friend for over four years. But that was a long time ago and even though Veronica wasn't the least judgemental person ever she would make an allowance for Betty, right? After everything, they had been through together from serial killer fathers to close friends joining cults.

Well...

Maybe she wouldn’t, they hadn't left Riverdale on the best of terms those three years ago and had barely spoken much apart from a few _‘happy birthday_ ’ messages every year followed by a short ‘ _thank you.’_

When they first parted ways and moved out of Riverdale to their respective colleges Betty used to consider calling Veronica every day. Multiple times her finger would hover over the call button but by the time she had gathered the strength and courage to press it, it felt like she had left it too late. After such a long time of no contact Veronica wouldn’t want her messy past brought up again now she had new friends who didn’t carry unwanted baggage wherever they went. Besides Veronica had probably moved on from it and would think it was nothing more than petty childhood drama. It would do more harm than good to speak to her again. As the months went by the need to call Veronica started to fade, not disappearing completely, but it wasn’t such a major thing in her life anymore.

So it came as a big surprise when she received a phone call a mere two weeks ago from none other than Veronica Lodge herself. When Betty had gotten the call she was sitting outside on a bench that overlooked a grass verge just outside of the university grounds soaking in the morning sun before she had to attend one of her classes. Her phone had started to vibrate from inside her pocket and she had gotten it out expecting it to be one of Alice Smith's weekly phone calls and almost accepted the call before checking the caller ID. Her eyes had widened when she processed the name flashing in front of her and had to do a double-take while cursing under her breath for nearly dropping her phone on the concrete below in her bewilderment.

When she accepted the call with a shaky hand and held the phone to her ear she was met with the all too familiar velvety voice. “Betty Cooper I’m surprised you picked up,” Veronica said into the phone making Betty inwardly gulp.

Of course, Veronica had a reason to think so little of her especially after such a long time apart with little to no contact. Still, it hurt.

“Veronica, good to see you.” Betty mentally slapped herself at the use of wording.

They hadn’t even seen each other face to face and for all she knew, Veronica was doing this as a dare. ‘ _Call your old best friend and trick her into thinking you miss her.’_

On the other end of the line Veronica let out a small laugh and Betty felt herself able to breathe normally again. It seemed that Veronica hadn’t held a grudge against her for all these years after all but still the idea of it all being a dare lingered in her mind.

“Well, Betty I wouldn’t say this is seeing you.” Veronica teased, “But if I were to offer a met up I hope you wouldn’t turn down my offer.”

Betty was speechless. That was something she wasn’t expecting. “I…” she trailed off trying to think of a suitable answer that didn’t make her sound too desperate. Especially as it seemed that she hadn’t made any effort on her ends of things.

Veronica must have misunderstood her response because her voice had suddenly grown a dejected tone, “You don’t need to say yes. It was a silly offer-”

“No no no.” Betty interrupted, not wanting to show Veronica any doubt in her answer. If this was a chance to renew her friendship then she was going to grab the opportunity head-on and make sure it happened, “I’d love to see you again. Really V.”

“Thank god. I’m really sorry but I have a class soon but let’s discuss details over text. I love you.”

Both women went silent at the two words. For friends who hadn’t seen each other in years, it was a big confession.

“Love you too,” Betty whispered back and then she hung up feeling on top of the world.

Now she was actually here facing the closed door of the toilets she didn't feel so on top of the world. On the other side of the door held her fate and she wasn't sure if she was ready to see it. Slowly, she pushed open the door and stepped out into the open feeling rather exposed. From where she was standing she could see the entirety of the small cafe and her eyes landed on a raven-haired woman, wearing a white blouse and black mini skirt, standing by the counter studying all the little sweet treats.

Betty inhaled slowly, preparing herself.

She could do this.

She had managed to get past her silly high school crush long ago. Besides, it was never a proper crush not that she would allow herself to dwell on the topic for too long because who knew how far her mind would wander. All they had (past tense!) was just a friend thing, although if she was given the chance she would have allowed it to go further.

She was at college now without her mother breathing down her neck. She had kissed a girl and done a lot more than that too. She had had past girlfriends but it always came down to her mentally comparing them to the raven-haired girl who she had shared a kiss with in freshman year.

Veronica hadn’t noticed her watching her yet so she allowed herself to take in the other girls beauty for another couple more seconds before walking over.

“Veronica.” The girl spun around at the mention of her name and her lips curved into a smile when she saw who had spoken.

“Betty.” She exclaimed and Betty could see she was mentally accessing the situation to see if she could get away with a hug. Betty made the choice for her and pulled the other girl to her who immediately fell into her welcoming arms.

“I’ve missed you so much, Betty. I’m so sorry for never calling. I was just angry with you and Archie but then I’ve realised we were kids then and we all grow.” Veronica said her voice muffled in Betty’s neck

“Don’t apologise.” Betty sniffed feeling tears threatening to fall. “If I hadn’t kissed Archie then this wouldn’t have happened.”

The two women finally broke away and smiled at each other. “Want to order something?” Veronica asked as the barista handed over her drink and sweet pastry.

“Alright then.” Betty nodded, taking in the mass array of sweet treats and then selecting herself a banoffee pie and a Latte.

Once they had both gotten what they ordered they seated themselves in the corner of the room giving themselves a bit of privacy, well the most amount of privacy you can have in a public setting.

Veronica was slowly stirring her drink as she spoke,e “Have you spoken to him? I mean Archie.”

There it was the truth bomb that had ruined everything between them. Betty shook her head in reply with a sad smile on her face.

“I haven’t spoken to him since you have V.” she murmured.

Veronica’s facial expression morphed into one of shock. “Really? I thought you two were going to be each other’s forever.”

Betty let out a small laugh. “Well things change the more you learn about yourself I suppose.”

“Speaking in riddles now, are we?”

Betty let out another laugh as she took a sip of her coffee. “Come on tell me about your love life.”

“In my first year, I met a guy I literally thought he was going to be it for me. We did everything together like we were connected at the hip,” she sighed.

“What happened?” Betty asked.

“Walked in on him and one of my close friends.” she let out a cold laugh. “Hard to trust some people you know.”

Betty felt her body go ridged realising that was an indirect hit at her. “I’m so sorry for what I did. If I could take anything back in the world what I did that night would be it.”

Veronica held up a hand to stop her. “What is done is done, we've all learnt from it. Now let’s leave this behind. And if it wasn’t you would Archie have gotten with someone else behind my back, who knows.”

Betty smiled weakly at her. “Okay.”

Veronica continued on talking in a manner to show that she was done talking about their senior year forever.

“So I was thinking we could go down to the lake not far from here,” she announced once she had finished her pastry.

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit. Wasn’t really sure what today would entail.” Betty confessed, seeming quite put out as she realised she had already ruined Veronica’s plan and the day had barely begun.

“No worries. Neither did I.” Betty raised an eyebrow at her friend and Veronica took it as a signal to explain. “Do you remember the summer just before junior year?” Betty nodded her head thinking back to the time just before Archie had gone to Leopold and Loeb Juvenile Detention Center.

“Well, we didn’t take swimsuits that day did we?”

Betty shook her head finally understanding what Veronica was getting at. She would be fine. Last time she had managed to swim alongside Veronica so who said she couldn’t do it again. Veronica sent her a sly smile across the table when she figured Betty had worked it out.

“Of course if you are not comfortable we don’t have to,” Veronica said offering a chance for her to back out of it.

“Nope, we are doing this.” Betty laughed reaching across the table to grab the other woman’s hand without thinking.

At that Veronica gave her an odd-looking making Betty blush with embarrassment and she quickly removed her hand acting as if nothing had happened.

* * *

Once they had finished their food and drinks they walked out of the café together to where Veronica had parked her car in some side street. She fished out her car keys from inside her handbag and unlocked her car climbing into the driver's seat while Betty sat down in the passenger seat next to her.

The drive to the lake was done in an awkward silence neither woman knowing what to say to the other. It was as if all sorts of conversation had been sucked out of them. Around halfway through the drive Betty had had enough and started to fiddle with the radio switching it to station to station till she found one remotely interesting.

After what felt like forever they reached the lake that Veronica had mentioned they were going to and it brought no disappointment. The sun had now reached its highest point in the sky causing calm ripples on the peaceful water below.

“Come on!” Veronica called over her shoulder, unbuttoning her shirt at an impossibly fast pace, unzipping and stepping out of her skirt.

Betty forced herself to look away from the girl and not be a creep, trying to focus on her own clothing. Pulling her jumper over her head she started to work removing her shirt and skirt leaving her just standing in her underwear.

All of a sudden, where she was, what she was doing and what she was wearing hit her and she felt very exposed standing there in such little clothing. Subconsciously her arms moved to cover her chest and she stood frozen watching everything going on around her. Veronica must have noticed her hesitance from behind her as she spun around and started walking over to her.

She took each of Betty’s hands in her own so she was no longer covering herself and looked her in the eye. “Betty you look amazing as always you don’t need to cover yourself.”

Betty felt her cheeks redden at the compliment and looked down at her bare feet on the muddy bank below her. With Veronica’s words egging her on she slowly walked over to the water's edge with Veronica following close behind her. She knelt down on the bank and tentatively tested the water with her toe. Just as she was about to put her other foot in the water she felt something hard come in to contact with her back and she was pushed into the water.

“What the fuck?” She screamed as she splashed about in the lake below, trying to regain composure while Veronica jumped in beside her.

“Only way to get you in.” Veronica laughed calmly, beside her treading water.

She swam up to Betty and held her so could catch her breath and at that moment everything came crashing down. It was just them in the lake and as Veronica held her waist Betty got a sudden urge to lean in and kiss her till she lost all sense of herself.

But just as she was about to make a move Veronica let go of her and began to swim towards the bank.

“Want to race?” She shouted and all Betty could do was nod and follow.

A part of her was slight bitter that Veronica had moved away at that precise moment when she was going to make a move. They were so close to each other, too close for friends who had just reconciled after three years apart. But try as might she couldn’t push those thoughts away anymore. It was more clear than ever before, that she hadn’t got over what she’d originally thought was just a high school crush.

She swam over to where her friend was patiently waiting for her and they both got into their starting positions beside each other.

“Three...Two...one…Go!” Veronica shouted and both women pushed off the bank in a flurry of arms and legs.

Betty kicked with all her might as she swam side by side with Veronica. Both girls were evenly matched in stamina and if one were to make a wrong move it would be over for them. Just as she was about to touch the bank, Veronica sped ahead of her and won.

“I won!” Veronica exclaimed surfacing from the water pumping her fist in the air in victory before bursting into a fit of giggles. Betty rolled her eyes from beside her and she smiled fondly at the woman who was now drenched in lake water.

She crossed her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at her. “Rematch.”

“You’re on Cooper,” Veronica smirked as both women got into position for another race.

* * *

After a couple more hours of splashing around together, both women had lost interest in the water and had started to flag a bit. It had been Veronica’s idea to sunbathe and Betty wasn’t going to turn down a chance to relax before their next big adventure. The early afternoon sun was warm on their skin as they laid down side by side in utter bliss.

“There’s one more place on the agenda,” Veronica murmured from beside Betty, as she slowly sat up and stretched her arms above her head.

Betty pushed herself up and leant on her elbow watching her friend who was had started to change back into her clothes. “I feel like you spent so much effort on this day and I’ve done nothing but tag along.” she sighed running her hands through her damp hair.

Veronica smiled down at her, “Well that’s the fun of it all.” She then proceeded to throw Betty’s abandoned clothes at her. “Now hurry up and get changed.”

They got back in Veronica’s car and once again spent the majority of the drive-in silence only this time there was a comfortable air to it and they both enjoyed the company of one another. It had been a long time since they had done something like this especially without the boys tailing after them and who knew when the next chance they could do it again was.

When they reached their destination Veronica parked the car in a driving lot but didn’t get out. Instead, she turned around in her seat to look at her friend dead in the eye.

“What happened between you and Jughead really?”

Betty let out a surprised laugh not expecting the topic of Jughead to come up. She hadn’t talked about her ex in so long and the last time she had heard his name was when she attended his first book signing. She had sat on the back row, scared he would see her in the room of people if she sat further forward. However, when it came around to the actual book signing itself, she had started to panic and left too scared to revisit her past. It was too soon and too raw and why would he even want to see her again anyway.

“We loved each other but not in the way we thought we were,” she admitted. “Jughead...well it’s not my story to tell but we were with each other because it was like a safety net.”

She paused trying to gauge Veronica’s response but she gave nothing away sitting perfectly still and waiting for the rest of the story.

“When he found out about me and Archie.” she hesitated upon mentioning his name to check Veronica was okay with her bringing him up again because earlier she had it very clear she didn’t want to talk about him again. “He was upset but not that I had kissed Archie it was because...” she trailed off too scared to finish her sentence.

“Because what?” Veronica pressed.

“Because he felt like he never made me comfortable enough to tell him I’m a lesbian,” Betty blurted out. “He was angry at himself because of my mistakes.”

There she had said it and for some reason, it felt okay to tell someone. People from her university were aware of her sexual orientation but everyone else from her past had no idea, beside Jughead obviously.

“I kissed Archie because I was so caught up with everything and thought that maybe it was just I didn’t like Jughead in a romantic sense not that I wasn’t attracted to men. In hindsight kissing your best friend’s boyfriend was the worst possible idea I could have come up with. All the other people I could have kissed but no I choose him like a total idiot. I suppose it was because I had been pining over him for so long and I wanted to know if what I thought was love was real.

“I take it it wasn’t.” Veronica guessed and Betty nodded solemnly.

“It felt how I did with Jughead and I think that confirmed things.”

“Did Jughead ever hint at you about his sexuality?”

Betty shrugged, “Deep down we both knew but we were in the same boat so neither of us wanted to end what we had.”

A silence took over the car, neither woman wanting to break it.

“Do you and Jughead speak anymore?” Veronica asked tentatively.

Betty shook her head. “I’m embarrassed and I’m not sure if either of us is ready to face each other.” 

“You could manage to meet me.” Veronica pointed out, “And my boyfriend cheated on me with you.” Betty groaned covering her face in her hands. “I thought you didn’t want to talk about that again.”

“I don’t want to talk about it when you bring up the subject actually.” Veronica laughed the air feeling lighter once again.

They climbed out of the car and the tension that once surrounded them had seemed to dissipate and if Betty was allowed to have an opinion on the whole situation it would seem like Veronica understood why Betty had done such an awful thing those three years ago.

“Aw, are we going to watch a movie?” Betty asked noticing a billboard in the distance.

“Yes but not where you think,” Veronica said with a knowing smile.

Betty raised an eyebrow at her as if asking for her to explain. “Lead me to our destination then ma'am.”

Veronica took that as an opportunity to grab her hand and they walked towards a building that looked very similar to the bijou back in Riverdale. Outside there was a sign that was lit up with little light white bulbs and the movies that were being shown tonight were written in black letters.

“We are going to watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Veronica announced, letting go of their interlocked hands when they made their way inside the building.

Inside was no disappointment with red leather seats in the bar area and low hanging bare light bulbs. It was a stark difference from the buildings she had grown used to after living in the city for a few years. But no matter how hard she tried, Connecticut never felt like home it was always that bit off. Here though she finally felt like she was home again.

"It's gorgeous here how did you find it?" Betty gasped in awe as she turned around on the spot taking in her surroundings.

"Nothing Google can’t do. I remembered how you used to love going to watch movies all the time on the weekends and would talk non stop about the old fashioned interior. So I found this place. Well, I also enlisted the help of some of my friends from college so it wasn’t only me."

Betty felt a pang of pain in her chest at the mention of Veronica having friends she didn’t know to help her research places like they used to. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Veronica would have a ton of college friends it just hurt knowing her old best friend had moved on from their friendship.

Together they waited in line to purchase popcorn and fizzy drinks and then were guided to their cinema room. Veronica had already bought the tickets beforehand so they were able to skip the ticket queue and made their way to their allocated seats.

As the lights started to dim and the movie started to play Betty leant her head against Veronica's shoulder. The rush of the day had finally caught up with her and all she wanted to do was to sleep curled up on her double bed. They had watched the movies hundreds of times together so when she dozed off and then woke up half an hour later she could still keep up with the plot. Veronica still hadn’t moved from the position that Betty had fallen asleep on her and neither did Betty.

Just for those few moments, she allowed herself to wonder what they could have had together if they had allowed whatever they had between them to blossom. Maybe they wouldn't have worked out and would have broken up just before going to college and university like Jughead and Betty and Archie and Veronica had done or maybe they would have tried to go the same place for their further education. But there was no point in dwelling on thoughts like that because it was the past and they never were together and never would. 

The movie came to an end far too quickly and the moment the lights came on Betty quickly removed herself from Veronica’s shoulder plastering on a fake smile.

“Hey, sleepyhead.” Veronica grinned. “Comfy there?”

Betty nodded her head already missing the heat of another body next to hers. They collected their belongings and stood up exiting the cinema room. Outside it there was a new chill in the air and Betty hugged her jumper to herself as they got back in the car. Once they were both settled Veronica flipped on the heater and warm air filled the car.

"Thank you for today it has been amazing and I mean it," Betty said sadly, looking out the window, as they drove towards the train station where Betty would catch a train back to Yale.

Veronica glanced over to her before looking back at the road in front of her. ”I loved spending time with you too.” She reached across the console and placed her hand on Betty’s thigh. 

Betty felt her breath hitch but didn’t dare take her eyes away from the window. She had gotten through the day without any disasters she couldn’t ruin it now.

"If you'd want to do something like this again then I’d be down. I mean if you haven’t gotten bored of me," she murmured.

"I’d like that a lot," Veronica whispered, a sad lilt in her voice.

"Me too."

When the station, which would take her back to Yale, came into sight Betty started to gather her things around her but Veronica didn’t move her hand from Betty’s thigh.

"Well, I’ll see you around." Betty stammered, feeling her throat close up.

Veronica parked the car and looked towards her friend seeming to be in the same position. “I'll miss you B, please don't be afraid to get in contact again. Your birthday is soon maybe we could do something for that” Betty nodded her head in response not trusting her mouth not to expose any of her pitiful thoughts.

Veronica took her hand back and stared at the dashboard and Betty took it as a sign to go.

She had just gotten her friend back and she felt like she was losing her all over again. She knew that she could easily get in contact over the phone but it just wasn’t the same. She reached for the handle on the door when Veronica's hand landed on her shoulder.

“Wait.” Betty froze her vision had quickly become blurred and tears were already starting to run down her cheeks.

She turned around as two hands appeared on either side of her face and a pair of brown eyes were looking directly into her blue ones.

“I don’t want to-” Veronica begun but Betty cut her off by kissing her and to her surprise, Veronica started to kiss her back.

It was a bittersweet kiss full of want and longing. Nothing like their first time that was fast and didn’t have much thought put into it. Betty could feel the butterflies in her stomach resurfacing and nothing in her life had ever felt so right. When they broke away Veronica had tears in her eyes too. She took her hands away with a sad smile on her face.

“Till next time Betty.” 

“Till next time Veronica.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, all comments and kudos are much appreciated xx :D


End file.
